


Truth Part 4

by The_Word_Witch



Series: Truth [4]
Category: James "Bucky" Barnes - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Hydra (Marvel), POV Bucky Barnes, The Avengers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 14:10:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17184464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Word_Witch/pseuds/The_Word_Witch
Summary: Since The Avengers gave you a home the only blight has been Bucky Barnes, a ghost from your past that you can’t seem to shake. It makes you hate him. The feeling, it seems, is mutual. But… a simple game reveals that maybe things aren’t quite so simple. (Post Winter Soldier AU)





	Truth Part 4

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:   
> None?
> 
> A/N:   
> Ah. Nothing like morning afters and best friends giving your shit. I mean really we all need people in our lives that keep us real and grounded right? This one is shorter and just really some fluff but also brings in Bucky’s perspective which is important as we head deeper into this story. 
> 
> I still feel so sideswiped by this whole thing. Idk how it happened but here I am. Hope you enjoy this one pumpkins!

The elevator doors slide closed and you lean your forehead against the cool wall.

“Shooting range, please Jarvis.”

“Of course, Y/N.”

“And Jarvis?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell us Steve was at the door?”

“I wasn’t sure what you and Mr. Barnes would prefer me to do. In the future, I can wake you.”

“There won’t be any _in the future_ ,” that… sounds like a half-assed lie if there ever was one.

“Of course.” Fucking intuitive AI.

The doors slide open and you’re relieved to hear silence from the range. Quickly you stride inside and look for your clothing, only to find nothing.

“Shit,” you groan. Maybe cleaning came down here today… but your half drunk water bottle was still here so-

“Looking for something?” A woman’s voice pipes from behind you and you whirl, instinct ready to lash out. Natasha just laughs, your ruined sports bra and Bucky’s torn shirt dangling from her right hand.

You snatch them from her, “That’s a great way to get blasted ya know?”

She shrugs, “Totally worth it to see that look on your face.” You roll your eyes. “I’m going to assume you had a _great_ night,” she’s looking at your walk of shame get up and tosses you your undamaged tee. Catching it you huff and turn away.

“You’re welcome!” She yells after you, laughing as the elevator doors close. Once inside you say nothing, just stand there breathing.

“Your apartment, Y/N?”

“Yeah.”

The water pounding your back is almost scalding but it feels so fucking good. Everything from the night before runs through your head on a loop.

You didn’t regret it. How could you? It had been more than you could have ever anticipated. But… sober you had it right. This had to be a one-time thing. Anything more would be asking for trouble. You didn’t need the burden of anything more than a night of release. He had to go back to being Barnes to you, not Bucky.

Committing to not leaving your apartment for the rest of the day you slip into sweats and a tee, collapsing onto your couch. You’re scrolling for some trash movie to watch when Natasha’s voice comes over the door com.

“I know you’re in there, Y/N.”

Groaning you hit the button to bring her image up on the T.V. “Fuck off, Nat, I’m not in the mood.”

“So maybe it _wasn’t_ a great time then,” she cocks an eyebrow smirking. You move to mute her. “Hold on, Y/N, I brought food.” She holds up two pizza boxes and Chinese takeout. “Truce?” Damn her.

You trudge to the door. “I’m only letting you in because you brought food. Piss me off and you can get the fuck out.”

“Damn, bitch,” she walks to the living room and deposits the boxes on the coffee table, “couldn’t have been _that_ bad.” Natasha lounges on the spot she normally occupies on your couch as you go to the kitchen, getting you each a bottle of sparkling water and plates.

“In fact,” she says cracking hers open, “I _know_ he’s not bad at all.” She smirks laughing as you choke on your sip.

“What?!” You wheeze, sitting cross-legged on the floor opposite her, glaring at your friend. Natasha bellows with laughter. “Did you pass your sloppy seconds off to me, Nat?”

“Was he sloppy? Do tell?” Your eyes may roll out of your head at this rate. “It was a while ago… he wasn’t him anyway, doubt he even remembers.” Ah… now you get it.

Your head falls into your hands and your stomach growls. “Food. Then I’ll talk.”

“Didn’t think Hydra assets were so easy to break,” she says passing you a box of pot stickers.

“No,” you pop one in your mouth, “Avengers are,” you say over the mouthful and you both laugh. She lets you get in a half a box of pot stickers and two slices of pizza before broaching the subject again, knowing that when you say you need food, you _need_ food.

"It was kind of a shitty thing to do,” Nat says before shoving a bite of pizza in her mouth. You glance up, surprise written on your face. “Blame being drunk and both of you bickering all fucking day.” She smiles and you shrug.

“Sorry, we’re both such pains in the ass.” You sigh, “I know it’s got to be grating. We… we’re just broken I guess…”

She snorts, “Who among us isn’t?” You stare, “Oh come on, Y/N. You know my story, Steve certainly isn’t a fucking paragon of mental health and Tony?” You both laugh.

“Thor is pretty well adjusted,” you say grabbing an egg roll.

“Yeah, well who knows how long _that_ took. We don’t all have centuries to work through our issues.” You cock your brows at this, because maybe you did, who really knew. Natasha sighs and leans back into the overstuffed couch, plate resting on her chest. “But yeah, you are pains in the ass. It still was a fucked up thing to do and I’m sorry.”

You look at her and smile, “Nothing to be sorry for. It… kind of worked out in the end.” Her brows waggle, smirking as she chews her pizza.

Groaning you fall back onto the floor and stare at the ceiling. “You were right. Ok? Some… tension needed to be worked out.”

“Told you. Nothing wrong with a good hate fuck every now and then.”

“Yeah…” His voice rings in your head, _You hate yourself, just like I hate myself._ “I… don’t know if it was necessarily a hate fuck…” You hear her sit up and brace yourself.

“What _kind_ of fuck was it then?” The eagerness in her voice forces you to laugh nervously.

“I don’t know Natasha,” you sit up, staring at the pools of grease in the pepperonis.

“Holy shit,” she breathes.

“It was good. That’s all I know. It was really fucking incredibly good and it can’t happen again.” She’s quiet. Too quiet. When you finally look at her you can’t tell if she’s concerned or confused.

“Why exactly can’t you do it again?” She sets her plate down and goes to grab more water. “You’re both consenting adults,” she says walking back.

“No,” you accept the bottle from her, “we’re both loaded guns just waiting to go off. It’s just… It just can’t happen.”

“I’m not saying get… invested.” She takes a long drink, “I’m saying if the two of you can handle one another and enjoy it why not have some fun?” You don’t respond, just stare into the middle distance. “If you go off-“

“We only take out each other, no big loss there, right?” You snap, tone more pointed than you meant.

She stares at you coldly, “You _know_ I don’t think that.”

You sigh, “Sorry,” she didn’t deserve that. Natasha was unarguably your closest friend here… or, well period. You knew if anything happened to you it would affect her.

“I just mean you don’t have much to worry about… you’re equally matched in a way.”

“Yeah… I just… we have… history.” She knows this. “I… I just can’t.”

She sighs, “Well, I won’t be daring you to kiss him again so you don’t have to worry.” You meet her gaze, “And you know I won’t say shit to anyone.”

“Even Clint,” you tease.

Natasha laughs, “Especially Clint! If he knew I’d own him $100, I’m not about to screw myself.”

“Excuse me?! Are you two taking bets on my sex life?”

“Just some friendly wagers,” you throw your pizza crust at her face, she catches it and takes a bite. “Thanks! But you know him, he’s more likely to sniff it out than anyone else.” She looks around at the air, “Except maybe Jarvis.”

“I would _never_ compromise Sargent Barnes and Miss Y/L/N’s privacy in such a way,” the AI pipes up. You both cackle at the offended tone.

**_[Bucky]_ **

It's been three days since it happened. He wasn’t exactly avoiding you as much as he was avoiding… everyone. He’d caught a glimpse of you in the gym this morning around 4am beating the ever living shit out of a punching bag. Not wanting to disturb you he’d headed back to the elevator before you noticed him. Beyond that, he’d only grunted at Sam in the communal kitchen when he went to grab something to eat last night.

Now the door comm was piping Steve’s voice into his apartment, “Bucky, open the door, man.” All he wanted to do was sequester himself until the next mission. Was that really so bad? But he knew that tone, his best friend wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“Let him in,” he says to Jarvis.

“The Winter Hermit, live and in person,” Steve jabs. “Got any food?”

Bucky sighs and rolls his head to look at Steve, already opening his fridge, “You know you have your own food to eat now? You don’t have to steal mine anymore.” He hears the pantry open and a drawer slide out.

Steve plops into the oversized chair with Bucky’s jar of peanut butter and a spoon, smirking, “Old habits.” Bucky scoffs and looks back at the T.V. some old movie he wasn’t really paying attention to, comforted despite himself by Steve’s presence.

“You know,” Steve says around a mouthful, “you both hiding out like this is highly suspect.”

“She’s hid-“ He’s cut off by Steve’s big laugh.

“Oh, I knew it!”

“You don’t know shit,” Bucky growls as he stands and yanks the jar from Steve’s hand.

"I wasn’t done with that,” Steve calls after him as he walks to the kitchen. Bucky just grunts back, hopping on the island and dipping a finger into the jar. “Gross.”

“My house. Don’t like it leave.”

Steve smirks back at him, “It’s not a bad thing ya know?”

“What?” Bucky asks sucking peanut butter off his index finger.

Steve gets up and leans next to Bucky on the counter, Bucky offers the jar and Steve dips his spoon in. “Her.” Bucky just casts a sidelong glance at him, “Being _with_ her. It’s not a bad thing.”

“It was just sex, Stevie,” he grabs the spoon from Steve and shoves a glob into his mouth so he won’t be expected to talk for a minute.

“Right. Just sex. And that’s why you’re in hiding,” Bucky shoots him a murderous glance still working on the peanut butter blocking his mouth as Steve grabs the jar back.

He shakes his head smiling, “I know it’s been a while but some things don’t change, man. This is how you act when you like a gal, you run.”

Bucky swallows hard, “Do I?” It’s a real question, he didn’t really remember that…

“Yeah,” Steve says softly, “you do.” Bucky stares at the grain in the floor, trying to find this somewhere in his mind, some memory he can connect it to. Steve watches him, knowing what he’s reaching for.

“One girl, we were, hell, 18 maybe 19,” Bucky looks at Steve, who’s focus is out in space some 80 or so years ago. “I think her name was Nancy.” _Nancy…_

“Blonde, big brown eyes,” Bucky whispers.

“Yeah,” Steve says smiling back at him. “You fell pretty hard for her, and the moment it was more than just fun you came up with every excuse in the book to avoid her. You even made me tell her you were considering going into the fucking priesthood!”

Bucky laughs, “In my defense I was young, I didn’t want to get tied down yet.”

“Fair,” Steve meets Bucky’s eyes, “What’s your excuse now, pal? We aren’t exactly kids anymore.” _Understatement of the century_.

“This,” Bucky holds out his left hand and flexes it, the metal plates shifting. “Seems like a pretty fucking good reason don’t ya think?”

“Nope.” Bucky just stares at Steve in response. “Buck, she literally, honestly I don’t exactly understand what she does but she can shoot deadly bolts of energy from her body. You’re worried that-“

“I’m worried about what comes with it, not the fucking arm itself,” he snaps.

Steve sighs, “I know.” He rests a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, “I know what you’re worried about.” Bucky takes a ragged breath. “She’s got her own shit where that’s concerned.”

Bucky says nothing else and Steve knows he’s not getting any further tonight. Steve pushes away from the counter setting the peanut butter down.

“Thanks for the snack,” he smiles at his best friend and takes ahold of his shoulders forcing Bucky to look at him. “Happiness is hard to come by, we know that better than most. I just don’t want to see you pass something up and regret it in the end.”

“I know,” Bucky says, voice rough, he also knows Steve is thinking about Peggy… “Thanks,” he offers him a genuine smile, hoping it’s comforting.

Steve gives him a pat and heads for the door, “And you better come out of hiding tomorrow. We’ve got training.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bucky yells after him.

“Jerk,” Steve calls over his shoulder.

“Punk,” Bucky responds. Steve was right, some things never change.


End file.
